Monday, July 18, 2011

I'm sorry, because I have been wanting to post this sooner yet the demands of my day job seemed to have increased overnight.

My multi tasking skill tripled because of that, which is a good thing because when you're freelancing you need to be able to juggle. Really well. Thinking is another thing.

This morning I was running dangerously close to being late. I showered quickly, changed, ran out, and remembered that I needed to put face moisturizer because my face felt dry.

In the cab I noticed that the moisturizer I put on my face smelled kinda funny, felt a bit odd too.

I realized that I applied lotion on face, and put face moisturizer on my hand. They probably work the same way. Do they? You ever thought that maybe it could just be a marketing strategy...

Note to self:Make sure to put Bengay in a separate drawer, and lock it. Just in case.

Got to work and checked the memos and updates. One of my colleagues asked me if I heard what had happened to she-who-cannot-be-named.

24 hours is enough time for someone to turn from corporate-rat to corporate-roadkill. Stories flying around was that she had no idea what hit her.

The office was once again alive with new rumors. Apparently miss road kill went vicious and viral on facebook. They were talking about her latest posts and how everyone was running around more paranoid than usual.

Out think

Out play

Out Last

Corporate life the Survivor series. Darn if only they added Out sleep...

I check my inbox and see a reminder for the tribal council/meeting. Imagine seeing your bosses gathering in the boardroom with their torches, deciding the fate of yet another corporate rat/roadkill. The tribe has spoken...

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Have you ever been stuck in traffic feeling too bored to even care that you were?

Do you believe that events in our lives are interconnected?
One moment sets off the other.

It happened that way.
I saw the phrase The four eggs on the back of a black SUV.

They were big, bold, and seemed to be taunting me.

Teasing my brain.

Well, they didn’t really. I only imagined they did."We have a secret"

“The Four Eggs “ grabbed my attention.

Maybe it’s a movie… Political movement? New website?

Picture my brain cells in a furious frenzy, moving so fast trying to solve the mystery posed by the four eggs.

Whoever came up with that line must've had a point.

Right?

Something profound perhaps. It couldn't just be that.

Could it? Sheesh.

I got to work and my mind was stuck, like a bumper sticker on a car!

Distracted yet surprisingly, I felt awake through a boring meeting.

I did the only thing I could. I went straight to my desk and started to write.

My hands were typing fast, pounding, hard. I wanted to let it all out.

The words of the four eggs

No matter what your goals are, whether it be to earn money, find a new career, become a good writer…

Find your voice. Sing your truth.

If you aren't being authentic, they'll smell it.

Humans have a sharp nose for fakeness.

Learn to listen for your truth too. When you write read it out loud. Is it you? If it is, let it go.

Over thinking kills that glorious little kid called imagination.

Write. Write even more.

When not writing, imagine yourself writing.

Don't stop because it gets better, you and your writing will.

You will notice a rhythm the more you write, because the more you write the more fluid you become.

Be passionate about what you do, and write about your passions.

Deal with the rest of your life.

Deal with it, because if you don't the focus of your writing will be your dead cat, or all the shoulda-woulda-coulda baggage in your closet.

Freelancing is a business. Not an escape from reality.

It's work. It requires commitment. The perk is you work for yourself.

You’ll be doing what you love doing, fulfilling your hearts desire.

Learn. Learn from the best. Be inspired by their work, and all yourself to be driven by your craft.

Never ever stop learning.

Read. Reflect. Listen. Read again.

Humans are built to evolve. Expanding our world, reality, and breaking our limits.

Read different blogs, see different styles, voices, and influence. Allow life to teach us, or learn from the internet, books, lots of free e-books,free audio books, TV, news, social media, blogs. We have all the resources we need to succeed.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I hurry to grab my laptop and find a place where I could check my blog, website, and do all the stuff I do to take my freelancing life to a higher level.

Temptation lives in my pc, because when I start, I'm able to stay on for more than 24hours, typing, writing, learning. I am amazed at how exciting the world of social media is and all it's possibilities.

A few close friends at work told me I lost weight. That is a good thing though I mean I have been exercising and counting calories.

I don't really tell them how I managed to lose weight spending all my free time on my pc.

I was tempted to blow my cover earlier when I overheard a co-worker comment "I don't think you would earn as much when you freelance. It's nice working at home but that sounds kinda lazy."

From my cubicle I imagined sending an invisible laser beam that would zap her--- enlighten her. It wasn't worth it. Guarding my secret passion for freelancing was a priority.

A few months back a co-worker who dared to choose freelancing over cubicle work was told "What makes you think you'd make it? Unless you're an expert in programming or the next Bill Gates I wouldn't risk the steady income that you have here."

The dream destroyers. You know the type? Steer clear of them and guard your passions. Well you know what I mean. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it, because you can.

I see my Boss walking in the distance. I feel an urge to say "I am the naked blogger and yes I have the audacity to dream and live it!."

Not yet. Until my debts are paid off I must maintain a nothing-but-average-cubicle-employee identity.

One quick way to increase your net IQ is to increase your net vocabulary or net lingo.

Language is the key to understanding what you stand to gain, once you begin to realize how amazing the world of Social Media, blogosphere, I-commerce, SEO, social networking, e-commerce is.

So a few quick ones this morning. Plus this one would be for my mom who has absolutely no clue what I mean when I talk about Social Media and freelancing.

FBOCD

Facebook Obsessive Compulsive Disorder A modern condition that exists when a person has an uncontrollable urge to correct the spelling of last names on tags in Facebook. Also evidenced by the overwhelming need to finish tagging every single photo in another person’s folder.

geeking out

A phrase that describes the act of using technology in a fun but excessive manner. For example, if you're at home with your boyfriend watching the X-Files, and you both have your laptops booted up so you can do stuff during the commercials, you are said to be "geeking out."

twitterverse

twitterhea

A condition resulting in tweeting frequent, short bursts of the most minute daily activities, it is feeling compelled to tweet constantly about every meaningless thing you do. It also refers to the collection of tweets from a group of people about the same event, resulting in highly repetitive clumps of observations.

blogosphere

a.k.a. blogland -or- blogistan -or- blogspace -or- blogdom The shared intellectual space inhabited by bloggers (people who blog). It is actually more than the space, it is the community of bloggers itself and their collective voice. Blogs are increasing in popularity as a way for people to self-publish their insights on the Web and because of the free nature of this expression, they are transforming the way people and journalists work together to report, filter and break the news. One example of its usage is, "Reaction was swift in the blogosphere."

social scoring

a.k.a. your social score

The act of rating a person's level of influence based on evaluating one's followers, friends, and postings on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

digiterati

a.k.a. digerati The literati of the digital world, it includes people in the industry who are considered knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know with regard to the online revolution

microblog

a.k.a. microblogging Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (called microposts -- usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either publicly on a Web site and/or distributed to a private group of subscribers. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, MP3 or the Web.
Popular services include Twitter (launched in July 2006), Jaiku, and Pownce; popular social networking websites Facebook and MySpace also have a micro-blogging feature, called "status update".

Friday, July 8, 2011

Yes. Thousands of people do. Hey if it's an idea that appeals to you, trust your instincts because you will surprise yourself. I recommend exploring the web and finding out what your key passions are.

Do you like to write?Try Blogging.
Skills Needed: Creativity, good communications skills, flexibility, resourcefulness.

Do you like Arts, crafts, cooking, photography, fashion designer?Start your own website. Create and manufacture your product lines, and sell them on line.
Skills Needed: Creativity, good sales skills, researching, and flexibility.

Do you have skills in customer service, data entry, office work, being an assistant, planning events?Try Freelance Services

Now there's a lot more not mentioned. There will be plenty of time for that. For this post let's cover Blogging.

Most anyone I know can write, or enjoy writing and expressing their thoughts and ideas. Blog do not have to be long. There are different types and styles of blogging, business, personal, art, funny, political, nature, hobby, journal, medical blogs, coffee table blogs. The possibilities are limitless.

A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a website that is updated frequently with new information and is organized by date and submission. Typically blogs are similar to making a journal. It can be used as a teaching tool, creative writing tool, diary form, business essay, travel journal, just about anything.

Blogs are popular because they relay experiences, interesting thoughts, comments, photos, web links, and plenty of other information that people find interesting.

Today blogging is not just a platform for art, creativity, thoughts, ideas, it's a successful money making machine.

And so, blogging has continued to grow and weblogs have multiplied into the millions. Blogs truly are linking people together and they are an amazing phenomenon. Even if blogging is not your main business, it is considered as one of the best tools to market your brand or product.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The web is huge. You know how you start out thinking you know something but then you don't really learn it until you do?

Lesson for me today.

Woke up knowing I had time to work on my blog and check my website.
Posted an article the other day which had the title The Millionaire Secret Of The Naked Blogger.

Should have known something weird was going on when I logged in. I was working on it a bit when it took me to another page. Checked the URL it was one I did not recognize. Went back to my blog, checked the HTML it now had a different code. Tried to delete it, and poof!

My work got deleted.

Now I know that we will encounter different types of people. I guess I should be flattered. I had a couple of other older blogs and that never happened.

Thought you guys ought to know. I notice some are repeat visitors. Thank you for dropping by. I cannot help but feel a bit sad though. The naked blogger was a post I enjoyed working on.

Today I am taking online self defense classes. Learning how to protect ourselves from blog-nappers, hackers is an important lesson indeed.

My take away:

Keep Your Logins Secure.
Choose a stronger password and keep them safe. Back up your work constantly.
Automate the back-ups that way you have a copy.Learn to protect your work early.
In my case I learned after. Get help. Ask other bloggers.
Type in key words like keeping your blog safe and you get a lot of bloggers who are experts at keeping their work safe.

Now a lot of bloggers choose to use wordpress. I have gotten the same advice today. There are a lot of plugins that you can use to keep your work safe. Learning as I blog. Blogging it as I learn.

Monday, July 4, 2011

I wonder if my days working behind the cubicle are numbered. After my post about Bosses using Twitter and other social networking sites as their personal paging system, the thought came to me.

Rumor were flying around in our department, that one of the managers got booted out because he defied the Bosses whims.. Err --command, directive.

They say that for whatever reason, since there was definitely different versions. This person really was no longer working with us, and a few who told me about it said "it's a good thing. He can now rest and spend more time with his family."

I find it interesting that rather than face the truth and say it as it is. People come up with ways to "soften the blow".
He's gone but that's a good thing. More vacation time.

Let's face it. If we work in an office, there's a certain order that has to be followed. Bosses where the head of state.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Putting up this Blog took a long time. There were so many different thoughts, different ideas. Somehow it didn’t feel right.

Then a few weeks back, I started to learn all I could about putting up a Home-Based Business. I had an account on a site for Freelancers. I kept feeling strongly that there was something more I could do, something inside that I wanted to do.

My light-bulb moment.

Freelancing offered unique opportunities. I kept telling people about it asking. I wanted to know all I could. Did you have to be a programmer? What if you were not really a writer?

Find your Niche. Something that you enjoy doing. Then do all you can to improve.

One of the best things I learned watching and studying the lives of those who have achieved tremendous success is to learn Listen To my Instincts.

Now it's time to do the leg work. It's easy to say we want to succeed, are we willing to focus and put in the time?

Best Investment I made is to invest in myself. Instead of using the extra time I had pursuing other things, I went out to learn all I could.

We all can create the life we want and live it. What helped me in the process of transforming my thoughts is the belief that everything that happened in my life, and it happened for a higher purpose.

I used to listen to those little voices of doubt. Up until recently, my inner conversation did not entirely reflect my outer optimism and all my beliefs.

• If you have a dream, a goal, guard it, focus on it, visualize it, see it happen.

I made a commitment to do something every day that would help me move towards my goals. From finding the best resources on the web, researching, reading, getting training, learning a new skill, HTML, SEO, tech lingo, learning to use new tools, different software.

My biggest investment so far is time and energy. I used to think that not having extra money to invest held me down.

I realized what kept me stuck was a limiting belief I had. I did not see the resources that were available to me, in the past I focused on what I did not have.

I took stock of my work experience. The best education I received was the lessons and experiences that life has taught me.

My mom raised me and my sister by herself. When my dad walked out, she did her best. It was difficult to find a good job, being a single mother with two kids. Looking back I am amazed how my mom was able to feed us, send us to school, pay rent, light and water. During those times she earned the equivalent of $47 a month, sometimes less than that. Money was not the only thing we dealt with. I made a decision early in my life to do all I could to make life better.

o Our circumstances do not determine the quality of our lives, we do.

Things could have gone differently had I chosen differently.

Find mentors, it helps. People who achieved success in their own lives. They’ve done it. We can too.
One story that I found inspiring was about the Millionaire Mommy Next Door, Jen Smith. She went from earning minimum wage as a waitress to millionaire at the age of 40. http://millionairemommynextdoor.com/

Thoughts to keep:
o Be very clear about your goals.
o Invest in yourself. It is our business to improve the quality of our lives.
o Believe in you, in your dreams.

What do you want to achieve? Are you willing to make that commitment and investment on yourself?

I always thought one day I would write a Blog exposing deep dark secrets. Not mine. My opinion is, it's only fun when those secrets are not yours.

Life at the office has not given me a lot of juicy material to work with. I have been tempted to write about other people's lives. That would however, make me a gossip. A secret Gossip. Except it won't be so secret since my friends know my identity.

Office life would be dull and unexciting if it were not for the mini-scandals that would shake our world every now and then. Life at our cubicles would be less fun without those.

If I were to suffer a nervous breakdown I would do that. Then I would have to go into some sort of witness protection program if I did that. On second thought though, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Google, etc. There is always this sense, at anytime someone could go in send something that would go Viral in seconds.

A couple of questions:

Does your Boss have a Habit of sending Bulk SMS messages? Does he use Twitter or use any of the Social Networking sites as his personal paging system?

Any thoughts on that?

Catch you guys later. I have to head back to the world of cubicles, coffee breaks, phone calls, meetings, and making sure that I have read and "understood" all the memos that has been sent out.

How To Make Money Online for Newbies - 5 Proven Strategies You Would Not Want To Miss!

Author: Wisey Lim

This article will share with you 5 strategies on how to make money online for newbies. These 5 strategies are crucial for your online success if internet marketing is new for you but you would want to see your result fast. Apply these 5 strategies constantly and you will see the "internet money" come pouring on you.

1. You must have the right mindset

You must have a right mindset to start making money online. A right mindset is like a magnet attracting the "internet money". You must have a continuous learning mindset. You must constantly create value to your online customers or niche markets. You must love to give and share. This will help you to make money online. Always seek ways to differentiate yourself from the others. Have this at the back of your mind, "Never give up, never give up and never give up!".

2. You must have an organized and strategic online road map

If you still don't have any road map for your online success, draw up one NOW.

Ask yourself these essential questions:

2.1 Where are you now? Consider the resources, money and time that you have.

2.2 Where you want to be? Consider what do you want to achieve? A super affiliate, an internet marketing guru, etc.?

2.3 How are you getting there? Consider the knowledge and skill that you need to acquire and the actions you must take.

3. Stay Focused

Remember this, "Focus, focus and focus....". One of the very common pitfalls faced by newbie internet marketer is "analysis paralysis" due to over loaded information. To avoid this you must take massive actions and accept failure and keep going. Do not try to master all methods of making money online. Focus on just one method until you master it. Focus on one project at a time.

4. Master one traffic generation method

Traffics are the blood streams for you online business. Do not become a jack of all trade master of none in terms of traffic generation. You may study various traffic generation methods such as pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, article marketing, blogging, forum, press release submission, joint-venture partnership, etc, but be a master of one traffic generation method before moving to the next strategy.

5. Automate your online business

Treat your online money making journey as a business. Automation is the key for you to grow your online business and make more money online. You must outsource the tasks which could not be automated. You as the online business owner must focus your time and energy on business building activities.
About The Author

How to make money online for newbies? Constantly, apply the above proven strategies and enjoy the "internet money". To find out more strategies to help you to succeed in internet marketing business and to earn more "internet money", click http://www.internetbusinesssecret.info immediately for your FREE eBook that reveals "The Secrets.....".You may share this article, republish, reproduce it or make it as a source of reference with the condition that the contents of the article and resource box are intact.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

I’m officially unplugging myself from the web. I have been doing a lot Research and upgrading my skills, pushing my brain. Been on the net for 20 hours straight.

Right now, my brain is wide awake my eyes are heavy.

I’m officially geeked-out-I-feel-like-passing-out-on-the-keyboard.

Learnings for the day:

Putting up a website and blog takes serious work.
Learned more about SEO and how it works, internet marketing, HTML basics for Bloggers and WordPress.
Expand Social Networking. When your website or Blog is up, Social networking will really help promoting those.
Upgrading skills means Upgrading tools, and software. I’m reviewing which tools I can use to help me work faster and smarter.
Learned more about Freelancing, effective blog set up for SEO’s. I found that there are those who have different views. Some say set blog up to target the web crawlers and others say you don’t really have to. If a blog has good content that is good, take it from there.
Found out what you can do that would have Google ban you from Adsense. (I should have read that one this sooner)
No matter how much coffee you drink — you will still get sleepy.

Two different blog personalities. The other one’s personal. The other one is more business. Difficult trying to share these things with the people around me. When I try and I start raving about all the exciting stuff that’s happening, they give me a funny look.

There’s just so much potential that’s untapped in the internet. All we have to do is see it.

OK. I have to be really honest here. Yes I have been reading and learning about blogging, freelancing, social media marketing, coaching, online projects, and how people made it happen. It's inspiring to see success all around and people moving towards the direction of their dreams.

In my day job, I work in a company that offers customer service to big companies.
I started with high goals and was really idealistic. Now it seems my passion to be at work is fading.

Do you ever feel that way? Like there's something so much more you could do?

Toying with the idea of being a freelancer, I decided to give it a try. In my free time I would go online and search for Part-Time projects I could work on. I sent out applications for any job I could take. My goal was to gain experience.

You have all the resources you need in order to succeed.
It's a matter of changing perspectives.
Consider being a Freelancer because that would mean owning your own business and managing your own time.There's a lot of things you can learn if you choose to.

Know what's right for you

"Don't bite off more than what you could chew".
When you have so much passion and you want to really build your freelancing skills, there is a tendency to overestimate what you could do. I did and I learned my lesson. Freelancing is a business, and it works because building good relationship with the client means referral, word of mouth, and repeat business.

Network

Build your social media profile through Facebook, Twitter, LinkID, Digg, Blogs. Meet and talk to people. I spend my time checking out blogs, websites, subscribing to newletters, eBooks, all of these are free. Building a network will help you see how other people started, and what they did to succeed. It's important to learn to network because this skill helps you expand your opportunities.

Learn To Manage Your Finances

This is where I'm at. Most people say they don't like the 'uncertainty' of being a freelancer. It's good to have clear goals at the beginning. Ask yourself what you want to achieve and make the decision to do all you can to make that happen, because the power of your mind will propel to the right path for you. Learn to listen to your passion. What is it?

Confidence and Exposure

Treat Freelancing as a business. You will be talking with prospective clients, the key is confidence. If you have limiting beliefs then now is the time to release them and make a choice to break through all of those beliefs that held you back. Find a good coach and mentor because there are things you can do to build the self confidence you need.

Expose yourself, check out fanpages, website, posts comments, write a blog. Prospective clients won't know what you can do until you let them know.

Keep a good perspective

Take the bumps as a process of growing. Then keep moving. Keep sending those applications, work on your resume, and work on improving your skills. My strengths are Marketing, Client Liaison, Coaching, Mentoring, Public Relations, and Social Media. Knowing what you don't know helps because you can now decide what skills and knowledge you want to work on.

If you're reading this and thinking maybe..
That's good.because questions guide you to make the right decisions.

Imagine yourself doing the job you're doing now for the rest of your life, well?

Friday, July 1, 2011

Today is the official birth of our blog about breaking in and earning big in freelancing, social media business, writing and blogging. The goal is help those who like us believe strongly that we all can create the life we truly want to live.

This idea of Freelancing and creating a business and help others break into the industry has been growing steadily. I've been thinking long and hard, not to mention fantasizing about it constantly. I joined an online freelance community and got hired to do a bit of online data and forum entry work.

How many times have you played around with an idea and saying it out loud to see what others thought about it, and you just didn't do it?

Why? What held you back?

There will be tough times.

That's OK. There are peaks and valleys. We go in expecting to succeed, and expecting that the tough times will make us better, stronger, and propel us to even more success.

To succeed we have to be willing to pay the price of success. Failing has a price too. Learned that from the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki.

The good thing about Freelancing is, if you want to, you can just jump in and start now.
Here are a few things you may want to consider:

• Don't Quit Your Day Job Just Yet.
There are a lot of opportunities out there. I mean hey, being able to earn a living and work from home is an advantage. It's good to be realistic about things. Take it slow, do some planning, try doing Part-time Freelancing first.

Test the waters. What's good about starting out that way is you can choose the projects you work on and not worry about where to get the money to pay your bills at the end of the month. Doing Part-Time Freelancing gives you a feel of how it is to work on your own. Some people find out that they don't enjoy not having co-coworkers around or that they want to do something else.

• Research and Preparation
Learn all you can about Freelancing. I suggest checking out Blogs, articles about freelancing, checking out different websites. It's easy to jump into something and immediately just focus on what you can earn. Research the industry, the pay, how social media can help you in your Freelancing career. Learn all you can.

Not planning properly is planning to fail. One my favorite mentors for life transformations always said "You have all the resources you need in order to succeed." Learn the skills you need to succeed; you also get help knowing the experience of other Freelancers. I am constantly reading the comments posted on articles to find out what people did or what they felt in the process of growing their Freelance business and careers.

• Upgrade Your Life, Skills, and Take Charge of Your Personal Development.
Freelancing is about being independence. It's taking charge of your career, and being accountable for your success. You won't have a Boss breathing down your neck on the deadline. You won't have an accounting department that handles pay, and finances.

Constantly upgrading your skills and knowledge is an important part of your success strategy. When I started out I didn't have a twitter account. I didn't really see the need for it. I was wrong. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, having your own website helps.

Create a support network. Family, friends, with Like-Minded people who will be supportive of your dreams.

So if you've made up your mind that you want to be a freelancer, go ahead. Remember to keep your spirits up. :)